Dangerous Equations

Dangerous equations are fun!Students recollections of a fabulous STE@M trip to Chester University.

Today we were lucky enough to visit the Dangerous Equations event at Chester University and I would definitely recommend it to those who think they are brave enough!

The event was presented by a brilliant Scientist called Marty Jopson, who often appears on TV as “The Science Bloke”. He started the show by burning different things including a substance called gun cotton that burns in a flash without leaving a trace and so was used in gunpowder so the enemy couldn’t see where you were firing from.

Next he showed us a whip that he said made the furious “cracking” sound because at the end of the whip was a little fluffy feather. At first I didn’t believe him but he showed us some slow motion videos and he was right! He even got a student (in full protective equipment) to hold a piece of newspaper in front of him which he then split in half with a crack of the whip! – this scared the living daylights me!

What came next was even more dangerous, Mr Lam was volunteered to help with an experiment called The Pendulum of Doom in which an extremely heavy spikey ball (called Mr Spikey) was swung at his head to prove an equation about the conservation of energy.

“My heart froze as I watched, would it hit his face? Luckily it didn’t and the room erupted in applause. After this experiment I felt a bit relieved that our teachers head was still attached to his shoulders.” Lennon

“Because he is brave as a lion he stood like a rock!” Tom

“We got Sir to stand in front of it, even though Sir showed great bravery, he still flinched a little which made me laugh many times” Joe

“Marty released the spikey ball and it missed by just a few millimetres as Sir gave a sigh of relief”
“We looked at Mr Lam we could see the fear in his eyes” William

“Mr Lam was “dragged into” an experiment were a spikey ball hung on a pendulum and swung towards him”
“I loved it when it swung by Mr Lam’s nose as we could see the fear on his face, I congratulate his bravery” Kieran

In addition, learning about the Fire Triangle, the exploding hydrogen balloons and the Karate chops! made the day unforgettable,

“He has made me want to do a lot more Science experiments” Alfie

“I learnt a lot from the show whilst also having great fun! It really inspired me to do more things to do with Science” Harvey

Thanks to Chester University and Marty Jopson for such a great STE@M day.